World Ayurveda Congress: Experts pitch for innovations and research in Ayurveda

Ayurveda has enormous potential for innovation, but it requires extensive technology-based research and a concrete roadmap to make it a global brand and its products effectively and successfully, experts said at the 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC ) said here.

“There are huge possibilities of innovations in Ayurveda. There are challenges to develop techniques more advanced than supercomputers. We will have to work on those areas of computing that are unheard of,” said Padma Bhushan Vijay Bhatkar while ‘ was a plenary session on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurs in Ayurveda’.

Anirudha Joshi, who is credited with developing award-winning ‘Nadi Tarangini’, an Artificial Intelligence-based tool for pulse reading, said he aims to develop wearable devices that can provide vital information about the human body.

“It will be very helpful if we can develop wearables that can do ‘Astha-vidha-pariksha’. Our vision is to go into the prediction of different stages of a disease so that we can delay a disease if we cannot prevent it,” he explained.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Bhatkar said, “There is a need to develop new devices like `Nadi Tarangini’. We will have to think of ways of marketing, packaging, advertising our products and how they can be shown to the world.” According to Kartikeya Baldva , CEO, Ixoreal Biomed Inc, Ayurveda, a traditional wellness system, has finally arrived, but there is still a long way to go.

“It is very important to ensure the success of products, but it will require quality, efficiency, branding, marketing and innovation,” he emphasized.

Ajit Kolatkar, founder-director of Pune-based Gastrolab India Pvt Ltd, said Ayurveda should move in such a way that a doctor can diagnose the ailments of a patient using minimum devices.

”We will have to start with fundamental research from Ayurvedic perspective. There must be a concrete road map. There is a need to revisit Ayurveda in the context of contemporary science,” he said, adding there are many key areas where Ayurveda can make a significant contribution.

Rishabh Chopra, founder of Ayurveda Experience, an Ayurvedic health and wellness platform, said ‘Ashwagandha’ has now become a popular product in the West.

However, there have been several challenges in making Ayurvedic products globally acceptable. He also said Ashwagandha, turmeric and yoga are some of the most searched words online in the West.